Category: Cultural Diversity

In his essay, Richard Rodriguez takes a look at diversity and culture, specifically the American culture and how it affects the culture of others. He also takes into consideration how the term of diversity forces us to look at others differently, furthering separation between one another. After white Americans label someone as “diverse”, as in, nonwhite, they force American ideals and ways onto the people who do not look like them. Eventually, we become the same with a different outward appearance. We may think this is not possible in a society such as America that is known for celebrating diversity and embracing differences, especially when our strongest ideal is putting a focus on the individual. But it is seen every day. Success in America is not even determined by what you do, but by how closely you fit into what whites see as successful.

The idea that each American is an individual also implies that there is no true American culture, which is not the case. If it was we would not be able to easily identify one another as we do. We (we being the American whites) tell those who look or act differently than we do to change themselves, then say they are losing touch with their culture when they do. But culture is not taking off one coat then putting on another, it is more like layers of paint, as you add more you become more vibrant. Every day we take on new cultures, new coats of paint, whether we think we do or not. Culture does not have to be where you come from, but rather where you are currently. Rodriguez also said something that was truly impactful. His idea was that spreading culture is not one-sided, each side gives and takes. It is like the transfer of heat energy, eventually, a middle ground is reached, which is something that I think Rodriguez was trying to say.

Rodriguez describes culture as fluid, as moving and changing, and this could not be any truer than in America. Rodriguez then gives stories of his and others Americanization, how it isolated them from their families, but in an individualistic society, is this not what we wanted? Americans preach diversity, then isolate the diverse and tell them to become like us, then shame them. Then back at home, these people are told by their parents to not behave like an American. How is anybody supposed to balance wanting to adapt to become successful in American society while not losing who they were in the process? It is simple. They do end up losing themselves, at least partly. America is described as a melting pot, a metaphor Rodriguez likes a lot. He says that it implies a sense of losing yourself, you fall in and become part of the melting pot, but he also says that it implies a change, that once you are apart of it you become better. Like the layers of paint, adding more to the pot adds flavor. It adds culture.

In the story, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn talks about culture, is a person who is enacting a story. To enact a story is to act in a certain way to make a story come true. He utilizes the term taker and leaver to describe the people of the world. He puts takers and leavers into two groups. Taker is called civilization, people of today, thinking that the world was made only for them. Leaver is primitives, who lived a simple life, they live by the basic needs to be equal and fair. Leaver talks about the fall of man while taker talks about how man began to rise to power. They’re a big difference between takers and leaver, the way they chose to live in the world, what they believe is right way to live, their beliefs, mother cultures impact on their life and The Law of Life.

Leaver culture believes that they were made to take care of the world and they belong to the world. They wanted to leave it in its originally state. It is paradise just how it is, no need to build the extra beaches and building to make it look like paradise cause its already paradise but, taker culture thinks that the world is made for the whole purpose of being ruled by them. They presume that paradise can be built in cities and countries because they believe they were kicked out the paradise. ‘Takers have always perceived that the world was far short of the paradise it was meant to be.” Paradise to them is their complete rule over the world. Taker believes that the world was a messy, and it was up to them to fix the mess the world was in. Meanwhile, the leaver believes the world was perfect how it was, and the taker is what made it chaotic. They think that takers only care about what they can get from the world instead of what they can give the world back. They think “The world of the Takers is one vast prison, and except for a handful of Leavers scattered across the world, the entire human race is now inside that prison.” Taker believes that when you are born, you are born flawed while leaver believes that when you born your either live a perfect life or a flawed life.

“One of the most striking features of Taker culture is its passionate and unwavering dependence on prophets.” They need to believe in a higher power to show they were living the right way. In their culture prophets tell you how to live not knowing if it the right way to live. Taker depend on religion to answer the big existential question in their life, like “How should I live?”. “There is no tradition whatever of prophets rising up among the Leavers to straighten out their lives and give them new sets of laws or principles to live by. ‘Leaver never need a prophet because they lived right. “It is not healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” said best in the book of Mark 2:17. Taker uses the story of Adam and Eve to show how they decide who lives and dies. “When the gods ate the fruit, they gained the knowledge necessary to run the garden: the knowledge of who lives and who dies.” Adam and Eve were the birth of taker culture. Leaver didn’t live by this myth because they don’t trust it because it came from taker culture. Leaver lives on their own knowledge and intelligent because they know that the only way to live. Leaver never did anything with blind knowledge, it was always backed with facts.

Leaver lived their life by The Law of Life, which is when someone or something may compete but can’t wage war on another. Leaver doesn’t kill more than they need to eat. They don’t deny competes food or supplies. They don’t let their population grow at an uncontrollable rate. What they hunt they eat and don’t hunt 3 days ahead. Takers believe, “The more competitors you destroy, the more humans you can bring into the world, and that makes it just about the holiest work there is. Once you exempt yourself from the law of limited competition, everything in the world except your food and the food of your food becomes an enemy to be exterminated.” Takers depend on the agricultural while leavers live outside of the agricultural way of life.

Mother Culture is a term used a lot in the book toward the taker. Mother Culture has a great widespread influence on the taker culture. Taker believes that” He says that Mother Culture also teaches that life before the Agricultural Revolution was horrible and that to live that way would be reprehensible’, while leavers again think that It ruins the world. Takers take wants they know about the world thought blind knowledge from their grandparents or parents, while leaver gets there from living life with the use of their wisdom and intelligence. The teacher said it best “Leaver pass down the knowledge on how to live while taker passes down the knowledge of objects. Thought taker and leaver didn’t live by the same rule the had one thing in common, Civilization and Primitives both know that there is no real way to really know how to live right. The sum of the story is taker and leaver will never get on the same page on how to live and how the view the word.

In the dramatic play “Trifles” written by Susan Glaspell, it goes through without specifically stating the cultural diversity in the 1900’s that women had to face. Although, it presents itself as to how the men back in the day believed that the tasks and job duties their wives and other women did and anything regarding their own thoughts were not necessarily important. In fact, the men basically considered that the women had very little to no meaning and their roles were less important than themselves. It wasn’t difficult to perceive how the play mirrored the 1900’s, when the typical roles amongst men and women were very different from the lifestyle of men and women in today’s society. The women were seen as inferior, or even sub-par, to the men by “doing so little” versus what the men themselves were doing. Susan Glaspell definitely allows the theme of the play to be supported by the setting with the time and weather, and by the symbolism found within the play.

Throughout “Trifles”, Glaspell writes in a broad way, while still managing to write in a unique and sharp way. This resulted in using strong, vivid clues, while also demonstrating strong implicating conversations within the play. The particular writing style that she decided to write in, allows the obscure murder investigation to evolve into something that is considerably more mental and psychological. The theme is more of a gender role theme that demonstrates the different behaviors of men and women. Glaspell revolves her play around dealing with the roles of women in the society of that time period. According to the article, “19th Century Expectations”, it states that “women were also entirely shut out of political activity. Women were not allowed the vote, and in Great Britain, women were so bound to their husbands that under 19th Century Common Laws, they were barely considered people at all” (Christopher Sailus). This implies that men and women were expected to be and/or do different things, regardless if it was considered to be discriminatory or biased. Women were treated unequally to their fellow men, because they were not able to be involved in any political activity, such as being able to sit on juries in court, nor did they have the right to hold any other public office at this time. “Trifles” deals with feminist criticism as well. This form of criticism is basically the suffering and exploitation to which women were routinely submitted. According to “Critical Theory Today: User-Friendly Guide”, mentions that “feminist criticism determines the ways in which literature (and other productions) reinforces or undermines the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women” (Lois Tyson). Susan Glaspell wasn’t the exact type of person who’s going to sit down and hold back. She clearly has rebelled against societies rules back then and was determined to try to prove a valid point for the women, who had suffered from the unfair predicaments in the 19th century. The structure of “Trifles” demonstrates and expresses towards the reader how it was harking back to the 1900’s for the ladies and the outcome of the perfect groundbreaking encounters of ladies.

Furthermore, the setting is hugely supported by the theme of “Trifles”. The setting has a major significance and is important to the layout, structure and improvement within the play. In Trifles, the general setting is a married couple living on a farm in a rural area, which occurs during the winter of the 1900’s. Additionally, the place is a frigid cool, cruel and relentless winter season while being closed off, perhaps, in a way this isolation goes to act as a comparison to Mrs. Wright’s hopeless and miserable condition in her farmhouse with the other farmers being physically close-by, but yet so distant. Ms. Hale, a moderately close by neighbor along the homestead, previously mentioned in the play that “[the house] is down in the hollow and you don’t see the road” (Trifles). The audience could envision her home as being in the back cut of the backwoods that you can’t generally observe. But Ms. Hale continues to say that the house is a “lonesome place” and it has consistently been that way. Another way the setting is a significant in “Trifles”, is that it forces the audience to dive more inside and out and really break down the circumstance without essentially expressing it. In the article known as “Literature Uncovered”, Janae Pickett expresses how the setting gives that “dynamic look without revealing much of anything into Mrs. Wright’s life.” The setting shows Mrs. Wright as being miserable and unhappy in her marriage, while also as being lonely “down in a hollow” on farm with a lack of social neighbors.

Finally, symbolism is very well supported by the theme of Trifles. The hidden messages behind the personal items throughout the play brings the situation to light whereby you can clearly see it. Susan Glaspell uses personal items in the Wright’s household as hidden clues to help the audience understand and be able to reflect on her life and her actions that ends with her killing Mr. Wright. One symbol was the rocking chair that Mrs. Wright was sitting in. This was utilized to represent her being anxious and tired as it were, due to the fact that her significant other was dead. He died by being strangled with a rope in his sleep. This built up and developed some suspicion for Mrs. Wright. The next symbol would be the rope she used to strangle her husband, the rope was definitely more of a symbol of Mrs. Wright’s vengeance towards him. Her revenge was for her only pet bird that she had to keep busy and accompanied, which he killed, therefore causing Mrs. Wright to take her anger out on him. The bird cage was intended to be represented as Mrs. Wright’s life and how she couldn’t just freely roam, she had limitations or constrained opportunity. The bird itself symbolizes the freedom and spirits of Mrs. Wright. Based off what Ms. Hale said in Trifles, “she- come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself-real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and- fluttery” (Susan Glaspell). This shows that Mrs. Wright was “sweet and fluttery” in the beginning, then gradually transforms into being desolate and unhappy after a course of years of her husband’s emotional neglect, disregard and not valuing her work.

Taking everything into account, the predominant norms of the day, that mainly relegated women to second class citizenship, where the reason that Mrs. Wright killed her husband. While everything she suffered was considered to be socially acceptable in that day, her husband still paid the ultimate price for it. While killing her husband may not have been the best answer, Mrs. Wright did what she could to liberate herself from the mental and emotional abuse she suffered. Similarly, women of later eras did many things, hopefully none of which involved killing anyone, to free themselves from a patriarchal and oppressive society. Women’s suffrage, equal rights and many other freedoms have been won by and for women. Maybe in this present social setting, Mr. Wright would still be alive and Mrs. Wright would be free to live the life she wanted.

This project is going to review The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. He is an Afghan American novelist and his first novel Kite Runner published in 2003. He was born in Afghanistan but moved to America in 1980. He also works for the support of the Afghan people. Kite Runner tells the story of Amir a Sunni Muslim who struggles to maintain a relationship with his father, Baba. Their servant Ali and his son Hassan belong to the Hazara ethnic minority. In this novel, Amir also depicts how the past traumatized him so he blames himself for Hassan’s murder. It sketches the political history of instability of various Afghanistan governments even from the fall of the soviet government in 1880 to the Taliban government in 1990. Racism is portrayed in this novel as Assef is the most obvious racist character. After harassing Hassan he said, “It’s just a Hazara”. Amir and Baba try their best to create a new life in America but their past isn’t buried. It covers all the issues of loyalty, identity, and courage. This novel especially points out the complexity of the father and son relationship.

The Kite Runner begins with the protagonist named Amir who tells about an event in winter that changed his whole life. His father Baba was a rich man who lived in Kabul. His mother died during his birth. Amir’s closest friend Hassan is also his servant and Hassan’s father Ali is close to Baba. Amir explains how Ali and Baba know each other. Amir and Hassan grew up together like Baba and Ali do. But they don’t consider themselves as a friend because of the class difference. Hassan and Ali are Hazaras considered a minority in Afghanistan. Amir and Ali are called kite runners. Usually, Amir flew a kite and Hassan ran kites for him. A kite tournament was held in the winter of 1975, Amir won the tournament and Hassan ran the kite for him. But when Amir reaches the home he doesn’t find Hassan. He goes out to look for him and he finds him in a street with Assef and his two friends. Amir could not help him because Assef raped him and Hassan goes back home with a kite in his hand and blood dripping from his pants. Hassan is shaken up after this incident and Amir also doesn’t talk about this but later Amir starts to feel guilty that he didn’t stand up for Hassan. Instead of telling Baba about Hassan’s rape, Amir decides to drive out Ali and Hassan. After his birthday he tells Baba that his stuff is missing and Hassan confesses that he steals his stuff. Ali and Hassan left. At the same time as the kite-flying tournament, war breaks out in Afghanistan. Things are getting worse for Amir and Baba so they move to America. There baba and Amir Work hard, Amir marries Soraya and Baba dies due to bad health. One day, an old friend of Baba Rahim Khan called the Amir. He wants Amir to come back to Afghanistan and he leaves everything in America and goes back to Afghanistan. Amir gets to know how Hassan and their wife were brutally executed by the Taliban. Hassan has a son named Sohrab who lives in an orphanage. Rahim Khan wants Amir to save Sohrab. He also got to know that Hassan was his half-brother. It is not easy to rescue Sohrab because he wasn’t in an orphanage but he lives with Assef. For the fate of Sohrab, Amir, and Assef fight Sohrab nails Assef in his right and they escape from there. Amir wants to take Sohrab to America with him. But it is difficult when Sohrab does not have the death certificate of his parents. To adopt him, he keeps Sohrab in an orphanage temporarily where he distraught and tries to commit suicide. Sohrab survived and after some time Amir took him to the park where Afghans were flying kites. Where Amir and Sohrab fly the kite and Amir runs the kite after Sohrab like Hassan did for Amir. They win and Amir tells Sohrab “A thousand times for you”. And this brings a smile to Sohrab’s face.

Literature review;

This section reviews the previous conducted on the novel Kite Runner to highlight the significance of the novel. Moreover, it illustrates the study of this novel from different research. The researchers Akram Sadat Hosseini and Esmaeil Zohdi in their article talk about the problem of racism and ethnicity. How are racism and ethnicity explained in Kite Runner? Racism and ethnicity are usually considered the same concepts. Racism is a worldwide matter that makes people inferior and superior due to nationality, ethnicity, and identity. “The difference between ethnicity and racism is that racism is based on biological classification while ethnicity reveals the cultural identity of a group of people with the same nationality.” It was started in the 16th and 19th centuries when people began to differentiate themselves. Kite Runner depicts the two major conflicts between two ethnical populations which are Hazara and Pashtuns. In Afghanistan racism started after the attack of the Soviet Union and after the rule of the Taliban which was a racist group that killed the minority people such as the Hazara. In this novel, Ali and Hassan belong to the Hazara group. Hazaras are a minor group and are treated inhumanely by Pashtun. Hazaras are only 9% of the Afghan population while Pashtuns are 46%. Another conflict is due to Sunni and Shia Muslims. As Amir said about Shias “That’s the one thing Shi’a Muslims do well, picking up his paper, passing themselves as a martyr”. Hazara are oppressed by Pashtuns for no reason they kill them beat them even sell their women they dwell in their places. They are also insulted by Pashtuns for their eyes and face look, they are considered Mongols by them. Amir and Hassan are close to each other but Amir’s father shows a different manner towards Hazaras that it doesn’t matter how close they are to each other but no one is going to change the history between Hazara and Pashtuns. Assef is the strongest racial character in this novel and doesn’t like Hazara at all. He blames Amir and Baba for helping Ali and Hassan. He calls them” a disgrace to Afghanistan”. To take revenge on Amir he raped Hassan and feels no guilty but says he is just a Hazara. He considered Hazara a garbage in Afghanistan and he wants to remove this from his country. This novel also shows that these conflicts can be solved when Amir knows about Sohrab, he sacrifices himself to save Sohrab. He fights with Assef to rescue Sohrab. At the end of the novel, he takes Sohrab with him. It can be concluded that racial discrimination is detrimental to society because it urges people to make judgments according to their standards.

How do Amir’s psychological changes occur in Kite Runner? Chen Kai Fu in his article explains the behavior of Amir throughout the novel. According to him all the behavior of Amir such as his guilt, redemption, his devotion to love just occurs due to the psychological changes in different matters. At an early age, children want love from their parents which helps them to build trust and positivity. As a kid, Amir did not receive complete care from his father as a child need at this stage. After the death of his mother, baba hired a nurse for him. He focuses on his business and politics and fails to give time to Amir which results in suspiciousness in him. He wanted to share everything with his father but he had a fear that Baba would take him away. Here, he was confused about his own identity, he always thought Baba gave more love to Hassan and he would play with him. All this shows that he wanted attention from his father. Amir’s father (baba) wants him to be a good player in soccer, but he realizes that he cannot fulfill the requirements of his father. So he builds a sense of guilt which leads him to choose harsh behavior toward others. He throws pebbles at the neighbor’s house, climbs on the tree, and puts the blame on his servant Hassan. His psychological thoughts lead him to be jealous of Hassan. When Baba wants to gift a harelip surgery to Hassan, Amir thinks that Hassan as a servant doesn’t worth this gift. Even a little love from Baba towards Hassan is jealous of him. He always slandered Hassan and claimed that Hassan stole his watch and money, which led to Hassan’s departure. After that, he gets the full attention of his father but he always feels guilty when he remembers his days with Hassan. Even when he was about to leave Afghanistan he wanted Hassan with him, but that was impossible he knows that. When he reached America, he realized that he had to build a new life for himself. What he should do for his family in Afghanistan was carefree. When he faced this situation he was totally confused about what he should do to build a new life in a new place. With time Amir becomes mature and aware of his identity, he finds his dream and lives with his father righteously. This behavior leads him to love Soraya, he accepts her past, and he even prays for his father when he gets to know that he has cancer. His devotion to love shows when he gets ready to devote himself to Sohrab (Hassan’s son). At this stage, he shows his loyalty toward Hassan and learns to devote himself. He wants to give a good life to Sohrab and for this, he fights with Assef. All this shows his changes from early stages to adulthood, from jealousy to love and from self-accusation to self-assured.

Discuss the concepts of friendship, betrayal, redemption, and atonement in Kite Runner. Hesham Khadawardi in his article focuses on friendship and betrayal, redemption, and atonement. Hassan and Amir are breastfed by the same nurse, although they have different mothers. On this Ali remembers that they will never end because they are fed by the same women. They grow up in the same environment. Amir is a Pashtun and the son of a rich man, while Hassan is his servant. They lived together for 12 years, and Hassan loves Amir very much. After winning the kite running tournament he said to Amir “For you a thousand times over (Hosseini, 61)”. Amir used to read stories for Hassan because he could not read. One day when he kissed Hassan he asked “What’s for that”? Amir said “You are a prince, Hassan, you’re a prince and I love you” (Hosseini, 26). While going back home from the tournament, Assef tells him not to hurt if he gives him the kite but Hassan refuses and says “Amir Agha won the tournament and I ran this kite for him. I ran it fairly. This is his kite” (Hosseini, 63). And in return Assef raped him. Amir sees Hassan when he is assaulted, and betrays his friend. He starts to separate him and he wants to get rid of him. He schemes for Hassan and gets rid of him. After Hassan leaves, Amir understands his guilt for not helping him as he was helpless at that time. Atonement is the last price Amir Hassan wants to pay. In the year 2001, he receives a call from Rahim Khan because he knows all the secrets that happened to them. He said, “There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini, 198). He comes back and he has to save Sohrab. Amir goes to the house of Taliban leader Assef. Amir fights for Sohrab even though he is brutally beaten by Assef. But back in childhood, he didn’t fight for Hassan. And he takes Sohrab to America with him. Atonement, redemption, and forgiveness took a long time to be achieved. However, their actions show their relationship which changes Amir’s Guilt into atonement which exonerates him from his past sin

Discuss the role of women in the kite runner. The researchers Narges Mirzapur and Azin Samadian discuss the role of women as third-world women. Khalid Hussein’s novels show how women are dominated by their men and how they remain silent in front of them. Kite Runner is made up of male characters and gives less attention to the role of women. The female plays a secondary or minor role in this novel which shows that women are not powerful in that society. In this story, women are the more who suffer a lot. They carry the burden of childbirth and become the victims of brutality. And after that society deprived their voices although they paid both from body and wealth. Amir (protagonist) whose mother died during his birth and Hassan’s mother leaves him after his birth. Amir reminds me that “It was there in a little shack, that Hassan was born in the winter of 1964, just one year after my mother died giving birth to me”(Hosseini,5). Hassan never talks about his mother. Although Amir’s mother is just an imagination for him, it shows the Afghanistan culture, during the war many women while child birth. Amir’s mother Sophia also becomes a victim of colonized society. Baba (Amir’s father) doesn’t marry her for love but for her education and class. It can be seen that Hassan’s mother was also sexually harassed by Baba. Even in the Western culture afghan women cannot get freedom compared to Western culture. The same is the case with Soraya, which signifies that she is living in a patriarchal society where colonized men rule over her, like her father dominating her and he goes mad when he finds out that she is living with her boyfriend. Hassan’s wife Farzana was expecting when she was killed by the Taliban. They shot her when she tried to escape. At one moment Soraya talks about the inequality of genders. She says “Their sons go out to nightclubs looking for meat and get their girlfriends pregnant, they have kids out of wedlock and no one says a goddamn thing. Oh, they’re just men having fun! I make one mistake and suddenly everyone is talking nang and names, and I have to have my face rubbed in it for the rest of my life (Hosseini, 156).” She tries to indicate that men can go to clubs and they can sleep with any woman but women cannot sleep with their boyfriends and used to be called whores by them. This highlights that women are not important in their society.

Analyze the tragedy of Hassan in Kite Runner. The researcher Peng Yuan Yuan in his article elaborates on the tragedy of Hassan. Hassan is loyal, caring, and kind but has a miserable end. His tragedy can be explained religiously, nationally, and also when he is defamed by the family. He always helps Amir, who is the servant of his father and also he is Hassan’s half-brother. He had a cleft lip and was abandoned by his family. His mother leaves him after his birth and his father also rejects him for his reputation in the society. Amir’s father was his father and he slept with one of her servants which is a major sin. So he was rejected by his biological parents. It also represents the Afghan society which shows that Hazaras are sexually harassed by Pashtun. He never gets his mother’s love and he thinks about his mother. His real father was Baba who rejected him for his owner. He was always bullied by the upper class because he was raised by Ali who was a Hazara. Hassan’s tragedy was avoidable. If Baba accepts him as his son, he never suffers. He never be left in the war alone and not killed by the Taliban. And most important he is never betrayed by Hassan who feels jealous of Baba’s love for Hassan. Hassan is always treated like a Hazara. In this novel, Assef considers that only Pashtun belongs to Afghanistan. Though Hassan is a Hazara he always stays loyal to Amir. He sacrifices himself for Amir and is sexually assaulted by Assef who calls him a Hazara boy. Also, he was killed by the Pashtun brutally because they thought he should not live in a house like Amir’s being belongs to Hazara. This tragedy should be the tragedy of all Hazara who live in Afghan society. Thus racial discrimination become the reason for his death. In Afghanistan, Hazara are Shia Muslims and Sunni Muslims are Pashtuns. Amir’s teacher gives him a reference to Shia when he asks about confusion. Hassam accepts himself as inferior but he does everything for Amir, but when Hassan needs his help. He could not escape himself from religious ethics. Thus afghan society and religious ethics become his tragedy.

How element of reminiscence has been explained in Kite Runner? Pintoo Dillon’s article points out the reminiscence. Khalid Hosseini in his novel wrote about his memories of his return to Afghanistan and become regret. So reminiscence is the flashback for an individual that makes him emotional. Childhood is the most important part of life which is connected to the future. In this novel, Amir the protagonist is a weak character, he cannot take any stand for his friend Hassan but Hassan is depicted as a strong character who just dedicated his whole life to Amir. The sexual harassment of Hassan becomes nostalgic for him. And after leaving Afghanistan these memories makes it difficult for him to do anything. He always regrets his cowardness. While leaving Afghanistan he still wants Hassan to be there for him. Also when he comes back from Afghanistan he goes to all those places where he and Hassan spend a good time with each other. Baba also reminds the past that he slept with Hassan’s mother. Although he loves Hassan and Amir equally during the war it gets disturbed. During the war, he just took Amir with him to America. Rahim Khan tells Amir, “Your father like you, was a tortured soul, Rahim Khan Shad wrote. Maybe so. We had both sinned and betrayed. But Baba had found a way to create a goof of his remorse. What I had done, others can take my guilt out on the very people I had betrayed, then try to forget it all” (Hosseini, 264). Rahim’s remembrance of his childhood memories also shows the element of reminiscence. Amir also remembers that Hassan ran a kite for him while looking for kites in San Francisco. “Then I glanced up and saw a pair of kites, red with long blue tails, soaring in the sky. They danced high above the trees on the west end of the park, over the windmills, floating side by side like a pair of eyes looking down on San Francisco, the city I now call home. And suddenly Hassan’s voice whispered in my head: For you, a thousand times over. Hassan the hare-lipped kite runner” (Hosseini, 1). When Amir reminds Hassan that he maintains discipline all the time. He says” During the school year, we had a daily routine. By the time I dragged myself out of bed and lumbered to the bathroom, Hassan had already washed up, prayed the morning names with Ali, and prepared my breakfast: hot black tea with three sugar cubes and a slice of toasted nana topped with my favorite sour cherry marmalade, all neatly placed on the dining table. While I ate and complained about homework, Hassan made my bed, polished my shoes, ironed my outfit for the day, and packed my books” (Hosseini, 23). This novel has strong elements of flashbacks of childhood, incapable regrets, and war.

If there is one word that can be used to describe the culture in Hyderabad, it is ‘diverse’. Hyderabad has always found itself rooted to traditions along with art. It can be seen through the various monuments and iconic architectural structures in the city that are testaments to the city’s glorious history such as the Charminar and the Golconda fort. Culture and creativity here manifest themselves in almost all economic, social and other activities.

A multitude of influences has shaped the character of this city in the last 400 years. The city of Hyderabad was built around the Charminar, which formed the centre piece of the city. The Old city of Hyderabad was designed with Charminar as it’s centre and was spread around in four different quadrants according to the settlements. Towards the north is the Char kaman (four gateways) which can be seen in the Indo- Islamic architecture style, incorporating Persian architectural elements. The Hindu Bhagyalakshmi temple is located at the base of the Charminar. Charminar is a perfect example of the amalgamation of both Muslim and Hindu culture which is historically known as ‘Ganga – jamuni tehzeeb’. It showcases an eclectic mix of different religious festivals and communities who coexist in harmony.

Subodh Singh, an artist from Hyderabad is known for sculpting idols for Ganesh Chaturthi festival since many generations. His father is a sculptor and used to sculpt beautiful figures on stones. Walking on the same path with his hands on it he learnt it quickly. He says art has influenced culture immensely through variety of contemporary ideas. As years passed by he made many varieties of Ganesh idols in different forms. According to him, “There’s no art without culture, culture is the basis for development of art”.

In Hyderabad, Ganesh Chaturthi was started in 1970’s when Congress was in power with the help of RSS to start this. Then later processions started, these processions went down through Charminar area through Mozamjahi market, Abids, Hussain sagar lake. That was the time when the muslim community in Hyderabad was also organised. It was started in the Hindu locality of Old city says Subodh Singh, who is a lecturer at Jnafau. He also adds, Hyderabad was a very different city demographically and politically at that point of time, in the last 20 years Hyderabad itself has changed both spatially and demographically. It is beautiful to witness how the confluence of atmosphere of both Mecca Masjid and Bhagyalakshmi Temple create a symbol of religious and cultural harmony. Since Ganesh Chathurthi and Muharram falls to be in the same month, we can see how Hyderabadi’s celebrate both these festivals together.

Subodh Singh says, Hyderabad being home to large population of Shia muslims, they celebrate Muharram to mark the sacred month of Muslim New year. In the month of Muharram on it’s 10th day when the sunsets the Shia muslims are dressed in black dress comes out to head for ’ashurkhanas’- the congregation halls. This is located in the old city of Hyderabad where they come to mourn the death of Hazrath Imam Hussain, who died in the battle of ‘Karbala’. Close to 5000 worshippers congregate at ashurkhana, near Charminar. During this time, the relic called ‘Alam’ is taken out on processions. The Alam is kept in a safe made on the design of a Sarcophagus (Zarih). The Relic was preserved in the calligraphic Alam with Arabic lettering of Allah, Mohammed and Ali. This shows how art enchances culture. The relic is believed to have reached Golconda all the way from Karbala in Iraq. The highlight of this festival is that the procession is taken out in the region dominated by Hindu religions in the Telangana. Even Hindus take part in this festival. Hindus and Muslims keep chanting Ya Hussain as they participate in this procession. Since in Hyderabad this festival is also celebrated by Hindus it is also named as ‘Peerla Panduga’. On this special day of Muharram, Hindus visit Sufi shrines. Peerla Panduga is actually an occasion of sorrow where the Hindu devotees respect the sentiments of their Islamic brothers and participate in a solemn procession. The basic idea of this festival is that hope is the only standard concept which is beyond all religions. Hindus treat this relic as their own Gods and Goddesses. Apart from other riots, these processions of both hindus and muslims are held harmoniously and people from different religions come together to celebrate it.

Recently an image went viral on social media, where two groups of people were crossing opposite paths, one side celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi and the other Muharram, people have be seen shaking hands and wishing each other across the road divider. The image is a riot of contrasting colours, but what is common is the joy on people’s faces as they celebrate their festivals and wish each other. Here we see how people from different religions respect each other and live together peacefully through culture. Such dynamics of living gives an insight into important cultural heritage like the Ganga- jamuni tehzeeb, which portrays the diverse culture of a Hyderabad. The Indo-Muslim practices are not evidence of a cultural synthesis, syncretism or hybridity. Rather they are evidences of a successful plural society. Culture and art is there to remind us of the values that we uphold. It makes us realise that we may all come from different walks of life but there are some things that are undeniably common to all of us – like love, friendship, and freedom.

Born and brought up in a small army town in India, I have lived among people from across the country. My life has been greatly influenced by the culture and diversity of India, as I have imbibed a bit of every culture in me, whether it be through celebrating Eid with the Muslim family living on the left side of my house or going from house to house with the Jain family living on my right for Samvatsari (Forgiveness Day) to seek forgiveness and mark a new beginning. Living in a multicultural society has allowed me to develop an appreciation for diversity that is gradually making me a global citizen.

Having a vague knowledge of every culture and identity helps make friends better, since everyone is fundamentally proud of their heritage and eager to discuss it. After moving to Mississippi for higher education, I have had the chance to meet people from multiple identities and backgrounds that I was initially unacquainted with. Attending seminars on racial oppression in the south to having deep impactful conversations about gender identities have helped me gain a deeper understanding about how crucial of a role diversity plays and will continue to play in the advancement of society in future.

MIT’s PhD program is of great appeal to me. I was very excited by the possibility of combining my intellectual talents with my leadership skills through the MIT Graduate School Leadership Institute (GSLI). I was amazed to learn about the students’ experiences with the program and how diversity helped catalyze their progress, just as a past GSLI fellow did, “Diversity in every aspect, discipline, work experience, future goals etc., made our small Forum group within the larger cohort a fantastic platform to bounce off interesting ideas”. My intentions of applying to MIT was confirmed by Dr. Kevin Beach’s enthusiasm saying, “MIT is a fun and exciting place”. Such opportunities and experiences shall help me share my unique experiences while learning a newer perspective from others.

The best part about a diverse open-minded community is its freedom from prejudices, where everyone is given equal importance and has unique perspectives to present to other people. It can be best captured in Rabindranath Tagore’s words – “Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls”. At present, hearing about the mass shootings or the discrimination with people from different identities, this open society concept is in a great need for propagation, especially because of the greater fragmentation of our societies. I intend to be one of its proponents and a quality education only increases my chances of being heard and inducing a change.

Culture can vary from one society to another based on various cultural attributes and elements that make up the respective culture providing a unique edge to each culture. Multinational companies need to adopt a global approach where they introduce global measures for engaging in respective cultures and for making decisions based on unique cultures. This essay identifies the uniqueness of each culture and how this uniqueness impacts the decisions made by multinational companies when they are making their decisions.

Introduction

Studies in the past have identified the importance of culture in the context of multinational companies and customers. The culture of society plays an important role in the lives of individuals. Culture impacts and influences on the lives of individuals, their values, the humor they adopt, the hope they have in their lives, the type of traditions they adopt, etc. So, global cultures need to be identified by the companies and effective relationships can be developed by these individuals (Thom, 2016). Multinational companies need to adopt specific measures for managing different cultures and for understanding international cultures so they can make respective decisions. This essay report will identify the attributes, dimensions, norms, and values of the culture and the importance of diversity.

Cultural analysis

Attributes in culture along with practical examples

The cultural attributes are connected with the practices adopted by the individuals of the society and how these practices help in improving decision-making. The socio-economic status in the US explains the power held by the customers because of the increasing level of GDP inside the country and the interest shown by high-end companies in this market because the customers have a high level of disposable income. Education level also explains the cross-cultural literacy index of any society that will explain the type of behavior adopted by individuals for responding to people coming from different minorities. This type of society is present in Australia because here, the individuals respect the cultural boundaries and beliefs of other people because the society is also high in diversity. The geography level explains the region of the country and the mutual culture shared by the countries coming under this region. Asian societies almost have the same type of culture because of similar geography and cultural identity. Social inclusion and integration are connected with the respect and rights given to individuals of different ethnic minorities inside the country (Spencer and Skalaban, 2017).

Dimensions in culture and cross-cultural literacy

The term of cross-cultural literacy explains the representation of society members on different cultures and their ability to understand different cultures effectively. These societies are adaptive and are able to understand different cultures. This type of culture is present in India where religious minorities are living in harmony and are able to practice their beliefs and norms effectively. The dimensions of culture present inside the culture represent the details of the culture that are different from each other and make it effective for the companies to understand and compare different cultures (Lai, Shankar, and Khalema, 2017). Power distance represents the idea of distance on the basis of social status. India is a prominent example of this type of culture where the individuals inside the society are ranked on the basis of their individual and racial status. Individualism vs. collectivism expresses the details of approaches adopted by the individuals of the society. China comes under a collectivist society where family members and societal values are important in decision-making. Masculinity and femininity index inside a culture helps in identifying the role played on the basis of gender. Societies where male members have dominance come under masculine societies and India is also a very good example of a culture where masculinity is high. Uncertainty avoidance expresses the beliefs of individuals regarding uncertain situations. Long-term orientation details the future and present approach; whether people live in the present or think about their future more. Indulgence explains the importance given by the members of the society on leisure-related activities (Refer to Appendix 1).

Ethics, values, norms, and social mobility elements in culture

The aspect of ethics inside a culture determines the type of conduct of an individual and the behavior adopted by the people of the society. Ethics varies from one culture to another on the basis of an ethical code of conduct and different grounds of representation inside the society. In Arab society, it is unethical for individuals to get affectionate in public places because this type of behavior comes under the category of an unethical approach. Norms are the customs that are shared by a group of individuals making up the entire tradition of that society. These traditions are shaped by the collective interest and approach of the individuals sharing the same level of perceptions and ground rules towards similar aspects of life. The norm of arranged marriage in Asian society is very high and this norm is widely accepted in most parts of the world. Social mobility present inside a culture represents the idea of addressing the mobility of families from one social status to another which explains the changes in their values and norms as well (Bantimaroudis and Zyglidopoulos, 2014).

Diversity in teams in MNCs

Diversity inside the workplace is a basic requirement of 21st-century organizations because of the advantages it brings inside the workplace. Multinational companies have a high level of requirement for adopting diversity because they are dealing with international markets and consumers.

Advantages and disadvantages of using diverse teams

The advantage received by multinational companies when they start using diverse teams in their workplace comes in the form of increased productivity and identification of individual strengths that help in improving the synergy of the team. The opportunities for jobs can be increased for minority workers after adopting diversity inside the workplace. In the context of multinational companies, the advantage is to hire local employees so they can provide insights about the local culture. The disadvantage of diversity inside the workplace comes as a low level of motivation for some workers at a job because they do not fit in with the new team members. Some workers often are forced to work in diverse teams which can reduce their productivity and skill set (Shoham and Malul, 2012).

Importance of using diverse teams

Diverse teams inside the workplace especially at the workplaces of multinational companies give more strength and productivity to the companies. The importance of using diversity for multinational companies is presented in the form of using new teams to create synergy and introducing layers of innovation inside the workplace (Thom, 2016).

Conclusion

The analysis of culture presented details about different elements and attributes of the culture and their impacts on how people make up their decisions in business. Culture impacts and influences the lives of individuals, their values, the humor they adopt, the hope they have in their lives, the type of traditions they adopt, etc. The essay presented details of different cultural aspects and represented real-life examples of each dimension and attribute for understanding how cultures vary from one place to another.

References

1. Bantimaroudis, P. and Zyglidopoulos, S.C. (2014). Cultural Agenda Setting: Salient Attributes in the Cultural Domain. Corporate Reputation Review, 17(3), pp.183–194.
2. Lai, D.W.L., Shankar, J. and Khalema, E. (2017). Unspoken Skills and Tactics: Essentials for Immigrant Professionals in Integration to Workplace Culture. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 18(3), pp.937–959.
3. Spencer, S.B. and Skalaban, I.A. (2017). Organizational Culture in Civic Associations in Russia. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 29(5), pp.1080–1097.
4. Shoham, A. and Malul, M. (2012). The role of cultural attributes in savings rates. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 19(3), pp.304–314.
5. Thom, W. (2016). Culture, leadership, and organizations: the globe study of 62 societies. The Journal of Applied Christian Leadership; 5, pp.55–71.

As a field that explores human experiences, psychology has been pushing to include diversity in its education, research, and services. The discipline has been ensured to include a multicultural approach and diversity while emphasizing topics such as individual and cultural differences (Gallor, 2017). As of recent, psychology has been focusing on integrating social justice in its field, specifically academically and in training future professionals. Psychology textbooks and courses lack coverage of race, racism, and other forms of oppression; however, psychologists and other scholars must continue to investigate race and racism and work to eradicate all forms of oppression (Whitten et al., 2019). Although monitoring psychology’s current demographics, one can highlight its lack of gender equality, cultural diversity, and inclusion. As a broad discipline, psychology needs to be internationalized to make progress and understand the mind universally.

Psychology’s workforce is not representative of the different races and ethnicities; however, it is slowly moving towards the right path. According to APA’s Center for Workforce Studies, in 2015, 86 percent of psychologists in the U.S. workforce were white, 5 percent were Asian, 5 percent were Hispanic, 4 percent were Black/African-American and 1 percent were multiracial or from other racial/ethnic groups, which is less diverse than the U.S. population (Lin, Stamm, & Christidis, 2018). APA released that in 2013, two-thirds of the 25,000 doctoral students in the U.S. were white. In addition, the data suggests a large discrepancy among Psychology faculty, with 78 percent being white members (Green, 2016). Considering an in-depth examination of gender inequality in the workforce, women dominate the field but only in numbers. In 2013, for every male active psychologist, there were 2.1 female active psychologists in the workforce (Lin et al., 2018). Even though women are actively participating in the field, inequality can be seen in wages and status within psychology. According to the National Science Foundation, women psychologists who enter the workforce encounter lower salaries than men regardless of the subfield. The average wage gap in starting salaries for recent doctoral graduates is approximately $20,000 (Clay, 2017). Even though women represent over half of APA’s membership, they are not represented in honorary positions or higher roles. Women in academia face certain challenges as well, it usually takes women a year longer to achieve tenure than men (Clay, 2017).

Various measures can be taken to eliminate the lack of diversity and equality in the academic field of psychology. A simple solution can be recruiting a more diverse student body, which would ultimately result in a more inclusive community of psychologists and therapists. It is important to have a varied community of psychologists because it encourages different theoretical and clinical perspectives, which may help to eliminate the traditional and biased assumptions in the psychology field (Awais & Yali, 2013). Additionally, the curriculum needs to promote multicultural competency and help train future psychologists to address the complex ways in which social injustice continues to manifest itself in many aspects of society (Green, 2016).

Another region that lacks diversity and inclusivity is research within the field of psychology. People from minority ethnic groups are under-represented in research.

For too long, psychology has disenfranchised or marginalized groups or individuals from diverse backgrounds in its research, which resulted in underrepresenting findings (Tebes, 2010). According to Trickett, it is important to consider the “Diversity of Contexts” when examining and understanding behavior (1996). There are several factors on whether the real issue of underrepresentation is due to ’ planned exclusion’, ‘inadvertent exclusion’, ‘non-participation,’ or a mixture of them (Redwood & Gill, 2013). The field’s understandings of the structure and functioning of the mind are rooted in a set of centuries-old Western philosophical assumptions regarding what it means to be a person or a group member in an individualist-oriented society (Stanford, 1996). Psychology research has mistaken specific cultural twists for universal principles because most of the research subjects, as well as the researchers over the past 50 years, have been Americans or Europeans only (Stanford, 1996). An example of a method to keep research inclusive and social justice driven is “participatory action research”. This research approach involves research participants themselves in every step of the process, from collecting and analyzing data to co-developing conclusions. This theory promotes change and empowers both researchers and participants as well as community members (Gallor, 2017).

In the last few decades, psychology has expanded on an international level, which is a salient step to eliminate the under-representation. A vital movement that will help to terminate these biases is the “Internationalization of Psychology” movement. Internationalization refers to the approach in which existing or new psychological theories, methods, procedures, or data across cultures are synthesized to create a more culture-informed, inclusive, and globally applicable science and profession (Van de Vijver & Fons, 2013). As a discipline, psychology should be able to step out of its comfort zone and be prepared to apply it outside of the European/American context that it always has been. Psychological theories and practices should be globally applicable instead of the “one size fits all” approach (Van de Vijver & Fons, 2013). Moreover, to further advance internationalization in psychology, there needs to be a further development of international collaboration, where Western countries are not the dominant party, due to their advantage in terms of language, experience, and resources (Adair, Unik & Huynh, 2012). With these possible solutions, psychology will be able to abolish any biases, lack of representation, or inclusion in its discipline.

In conclusion, as a society that is continually evolving, increasingly becoming more diverse and multicultural, psychology has been attempting to ensure that it follows that change. The psychology field has historically lacked racial and ethnic diversity but with the appropriate measures, it will be possible to create a representative discipline. With solutions such as the “Internationalization of Psychology” and others, education along with research and services will be able to close the racial/ethnic gap. Even though there are several barriers that the field must overcome, it is very possible to create an inclusive environment where all groups are represented. Even though diversity can be challenging, it is intensely valuable to the field, and as the nation is diversifying, psychology should too.

References

1. Adair, J. G., Unik, L. M., & Huynh, C.-L. (2010). Psychology through international congresses: Differences between regions, countries, and congresses. International Journal of Psychology, 45(2), 155-162. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207590903157221
2. Awais, Y. J., & Yali, A. M. (2013). A call for diversity: The need to recruit and retain ethnic minority students in art therapy. Art Therapy, 30(3), 130–134. doi: 10.1080/07421656.2013.819284
3. Clay, R. A. (2017, August). Women outnumber men in psychology, but not in the field’s top echelons. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/07-08/women-psychology
4. Gallor, Susanna. “A Social Justice Approach to Undergraduate Psychology Education: Building Cultural Diversity, Inclusion, and Sensitivity Into Teaching, Research, and Service.” Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, vol. 22, no. 4, 2017, pp. 254–257. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, doi:10.24839/2325-7342.JN22.4.254.
5. Green, A. (2016, January 29). Psychology’s Diversity Problem. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psy-curious/201601/psychologys-diversity- problem
6. Lin, L., Stamm, K., & Christidis, P. (2018, February). How diverse is the psychology workforce? Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2018/02/datapoint
7. Redwood S., Gill P.S. Under-representation of minority ethnic groups in research — call for action. Br. J. Gen. Pract. 2013;63(612):342–343.
8. Stanford. (1996). Why psychologists need to study cultural diversity. Stanford News, dated May 2. Retrieved from http://news.stanford.edu/pr/96/ 960212aaasmarkus.html
9. Tebes, Jacob Kraemer. “Community Psychology, Diversity, and the Many Forms of Culture.” American Psychologist, vol. 65, no. 1, Jan. 2010, pp. 58–59. PsycARTICLES, EBSCOhost, doi:10.1037/a0017456.
10. Trickett, E. J. (1996). A future for community psychology: The contexts of diversity and the diversity of contexts. American Journal of Community Psychology, 24(2), 209-234.
11. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02510399
12. Van de Vijver, Fons J. R. “Contributions of Internationalization to Psychology: Toward a Global and Inclusive Discipline.” American Psychologist, vol. 68, no. 8, Nov. 2013, pp. 761–770. PsycARTICLES, EBSCOhost, doi:10.1037/a0033762.
13. Whitten, L., Fairchild, H. H., & Richard, H. W. (2019). Teaching Africana psychology. In J. A. Mena & K. Quina (Eds.), Integrating multiculturalism and intersectionality into the psychology curriculum: Strategies for instructors (pp. 103-114). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association.

Culture is a social conduct and way of life found in human social orders/society. Culture cannot be accurately explained, it has various definitions based on different perceptions. It is an experience that an individual learns in his or her life through various modes, such as family, community, and surrounding. Numerous cultures are practiced by human beings in different parts of the world. A particular culture, globally recognized as a religion as well, but in my opinion, could be considered a way of life, is Islam. It consists of different pillars such as moral values, religion, beliefs, ethics, etc. I had a great experience talking to one of my co-workers regarding this culture. I came to know about so many different things that I wasn’t aware of. His name is Abdul Shahid and he belongs to the Muslim community. Initially, he was anxious to go through with the interview due to religion being a controversial topic, however, he was quite enthusiastic as well because he is very fond of his culture and was looking forward to talking about it. I consider this interview an exciting opportunity as it was a great experience for me to gain knowledge about a different culture. I had little knowledge about Islamic culture, but after having an interview with Abdul, my whole perspective of Islamic culture changed.

Abdul Shahid was born in the United States of America, and since he was little, he lived with his family. Later on, in 2016, he moved to Canada to pursue higher education. According to him the best part of his culture is the prayer ‘namaz’ because it’s the time when he feels that he is close to Allah (God). According to their holy book, Qur’an, they are required to pray five times a day. They call their daily prayers ‘salat’. As per Qur’an, their religion is categorized into two different levels called Sunni and Shi’a. According to him, the generation and their cultural beliefs have changed over the past few decades, he respects the ethics and moral values that his parents have taught him since he was born as he feels these values are a blessing provided to him by Allah (God).

Further on, I inquired him about the gender specification in his family and the culture, to which he replied that women are highly respected in their community and raised on a high pedestal. In most families, men are usually dominant over women due to the male members being the breadwinners of the family, but they are treated equally to the males in the family. In terms of education, it really matters in his family, however, his mom is the least educated in the family because she had a lot of responsibilities on her. From the perspective of religion, Muslim women have the right to pursue an education.

In his opinion, the most beautiful part of Islamic culture is the month of Ramadan, during which they fast from dawn to dusk for thirty days after which they celebrate the end of Ramadan with the festival of Eid al-Fitr. It is difficult to fast in the month of Ramadan for today’s generation, especially for those who are raised in a Western community where Islam is not a norm and the new generation is not raised with the same values as their ancestors. The two integral festivals in Islam are Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

I asked him about his expectations from life, and he simply replied that he does not expect more from life, the only result one gets is what one works for, and destiny just plays along.

He has experienced racism many times in his life. In his opinion, the way people view Islamic culture is wrong, especially in the Western part of the world. To most people, the first thought that comes to mind when they hear the word ‘Muslim’ is terrorist. It is quite tragic to see how they are treated just because of their cultural identity. I feel that the world needs to understand that the people who follow Islam are humans too and they too have the right to access everything like others do. My friend shared an incident when he was coming to Canada for his higher studies in which he was not comfortable with the behavior of the attendants at the California Airport due to the excess security checking he had to go through while most people went through immigration within minutes. The world needs to change its thinking toward Islamic culture. He decided to stay in Canada because he feels like it’s a secular country with multiculturalism, which is what he appreciates most about the country. He personally feels that there is no discrimination in Canada and everyone is treated equally and provided with all human rights as compared to the feeling he had during his childhood in the US where he felt victimized. The aspect he does not like about living in Canada is that he is away from his family, and because of his closeness to them, he feels like a part of him is missing.

I also asked him a few questions about the rituals of marriage in Islam. Marriages should be done accurately amongst Muslims, which means they should be practiced with a religious ceremony and also legally. There are some laws in his culture with which he strongly disagrees, such as polygamy, however, he continues to respect this practice because he does not want to go against his community. In most countries, polygamous marriages are still practiced. It means that one person can have more than one wife or husband in his or her life at the same time. However, in Islam, only men are allowed to marry more than one woman and can exceed up to four wives, provided that he treats each one equally. Individuals from different foundations can be extremely upbeat together if their comprehension and routine about Islam are perfect. He presented an example of one of his cousins, who married twice in his life, but to Abdul, it was wrong because he believes that one should be loyal and committed to one person in life. This goes to show that every individual has their own personal experiences.

I believe I can relate to some aspects of the life experiences faced Abdul, such as staying away from my family and my home country. I am also an international student in Canada and sometimes even I feel alone without my family. It is hard to survive when you are alone in a different part of the world, but I feel privileged at the same time to know that I am living in a multicultural society that has various benefits. On the other hand, there are so many differences between our life experiences because our surroundings were opposite to each other, such as family background, moral values, history, and religious beliefs.

I have lived in Florida my whole life. I’ve had many interactions with lots of different cultures in my eighteen years of living here. The one culture besides my own that I’ve intermingled with the most is Hispanic/Mexican culture. The 2013-2017 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates found that Mexicans make up 3.4% of the population of Florida, and this doesn’t even account for all of the undocumented Mexicans (DADS). This is why I’ve chosen to study Mexican culture for my ethnographic research; to give a much deeper understanding and translate this culture. This Ethnography will be about describing the contents of Mexican culture to help give a deeper understanding of it. I will have many interactions with Mexicans and their culture while I continue to live in Florida, so I need to gain a fuller understanding of their culture so I can respect their values and understand their way of life, especially as a Christian and possibly future school teacher. I should understand this culture so I can assist in building bridges between people. Many of my future students may be Mexican and doing ethnographic research on their culture can help provide insight into teaching these students.

One of these interactions with another culture in a school environment allowed me to make a good friend. I am close friends with someone of Mexican descent. He is a first-generation Mexican-American. His name is Alonso Zurita. I asked Alonso if he could be my middle man during this study of his parent’s culture, and he willingly agreed. I asked if I could do my fieldwork at his home and have his parents, Jaime and Maria Zurita as my informants. We decided to do the shadowing of my informants and interview them at a traditional family dinner. It was with him, Mr. and Mrs. Zurita, and his two sisters, Alondra and Aracely. Alonso told me this way it would be more casual and authentic.

Before I conducted my in-field ethnographic study, I researched the background of Mexican culture, so I wasn’t coming into it clueless. I went back to the beginning to understand where modern Mexican culture gets its roots. According to “Cultural Traditions, Beliefs, and Values,” Hispanics can trace their ancestry back to the indigenous people of North America as well as to Spanish/European, Asian, and African roots. The culture has been influenced by the indigenous peoples of Mexico, which includes the Nahua, Otomi, Maya, Zapotec, Tzeltal, and Tzotzil, and also by European colonization in the 16th century. Because of the European colonization, now 92.7% of Mexicans (in Mexico) speak Spanish, while only 5.7% speak their indigenous languages (Moveonnet). The diversity of Mexican culture is influenced by familial ties, gender, religion, location, and social class. All of these factors have brought many diverse traditions and customs. Mexicans closely identify with their state, rather than the country as a whole. Regional and local identities have given rise to the idea that there exist ‘many Mexicos.’ This is why Mexican culture is so diverse (Countries and Their Cultures).

One huge contributing factor to Mexican culture is religion. The Spanish brought Roman Catholicism with them to Mexico. As of 2010, 95.6% of the population was Christian (CIA). The most important icon of Mexican national culture is the Virgin of Guadalupe (The Virgin Mary), which shows the influence of Roman Catholicism on the national culture. She’s seen as the ‘mother’ of all Mexicans. Their dark-skinned Virgin is the Mexican version of the Virgin Mary and as such represents national identity as the product of the mixing of European and Meso-American religions and peoples (Countries and Their Cultures). In the cities of Mexico, the main church is usually found in the zocalo (central square). This shows how important religion is. Is in the culture. Family is another major value in Mexican culture. Mexico has traditionally been home to a patriarchal family structure. There are defined roles for mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters in Mexican families. Everyone had a role. The men taught boys their roles and responsibilities. Girls learned from the women (García). This was one value I saw clearly while doing my ethnographic research. These values from Mexico have been brought to the U.S. with families who have migrated. The Zurita’s are one of those families that brought their culture with them.

Maria and Jaime moved to America from Mexico in 1998. They moved here separately and met in 2000 at a rodeo. They both came to the U.S. to have better opportunities for work so they could send money back to their families in Mexico. Jaime grew up on a rancho (ranch) in Puebla. Both of his padres (parents) were “granjeros” (farmers). He went to “escuela” (school) for a time but eventually stopped because of the distance and to help his parents on the rancho. His upbringing was much more secluded than Maria’s. Maria grew up en un pueblo cerca de San Luis Potosi. Her mother worked as a nanny in the states, sending money back to them from there. Maria and her sisters both went to school in the city and graduated “de preparatoria” (high school). She did dance and basketball. Although Maria and Jaime lived different lives in Mexico, they had the same goal of moving to America to build a more fulfilling life.

I arrive at Zurita’s house. The outside of their home is covered with beautiful, exotic-looking plants. Some I recognize right away, such as orchids and morning glories. One I didn’t recognize was, which I later ask and find out, a Dahlia pinnata, Mexico’s national flower. I then knock on the door and Alonso greets me. He welcomes me inside their home. I immediately smell the strong scent of various spices as I walk in. I also notice that I’m not asked to take off my shoes. I ask Alonso if I should, and he says it’s not necessary and that they normally don’t, except for his and his father’s work shoes. I leave them on. As I walk through their front room, I see a large amount of little Mexican statues and decorations placed around them. The frames of pictures are decorated with flower molding. Underneath one large picture frame is a wooden tray topped with a pitcher. The pitcher is covered with a design of a man drinking alone at a table. The wall facing the door is covered with a ton of little butterflies. I think it looks beautiful. The front room is the brightest in the house and feels the most inviting because of the colorful decorations and seafoam green walls. Inside the front room, there are also many flowers, but they’re fake. On all the walls of the front room are pictures of his eldest sister, Alondra, quinceanera, which is a girl’s 15th birthday party. One thing I did come into this research knowing is how important quinceaneras are in Mexican culture. I attended Alondra’s a few months prior to this. It was a fascinating event that had lots of care and attention poured into it. This is because a quinceanera marks a girl’s passage from girlhood to womanhood. There are 5 large pictures of Alondra in various outfits.

We walk out of the front room to their living room. I notice right away all of the statues of dancing women above their TV. They’re each wearing a vibrant blue dress covered in fruit and plants. Alongside them is a giant clay pitcher covered in the same decoration. Watermelon, grapes, and pears cover its surface. Next to it are six cups covered with the same design. The living room is larger than the front room with lots of furniture to sit on. It has a soft, warm feeling to it. It gives off a more comfy and relaxing feeling.

My friend continues showing me around his home. Despite his house’s exterior and layout is reminiscent of my own home, the decorations make it much more unique. You can easily tell this is a home of a different culture.

Connected to the living room is the kitchen. Alonso tells me these two rooms are central to their home. They host people a lot and throw many parties, so there are always people in those rooms. Whether it’s the women cooking or the men and children sitting down to eat at the dining table in the kitchen or on the couches in the living room. There are red and green jalapeno decorations hanging up against the wall in the kitchen. I later ask Mrs. Zurita what the significance of these are, because I see them in many Mexican restaurants or homes, and she says it’s just commonly used decoration. There’re pear-shaped clay coffee cups that Alonso says were sent from Mexico. My favorite decoration was the rooster sitting in the middle of their dining room table. I had its wings shaped in a way where it could hold salt and pepper shakers. I’ve seen roosters a lot in the decorations of other Mexican places too.

There was one decoration that I found interesting and I asked Mrs. Zurita about it. I saw a horseshoe on the wall of the front room, and I remembered seeing one in their car when I had gotten a ride with Alonso once. Mrs. Zurita said that the horseshoe brings Buena Suerte (good luck). This got us talking about superstition and other things similar to what they had in their home. She told me that none of the beds are in a corner because it brings mala suerte (bad luck). There’s another superstition that I found interesting, which is if you have a fly problem in your home you can hang bags of water filled with pennies from the ceiling to keep them out. Mrs. Zurita said the reflection of the pennies confused them and the flies don’t want to get near them, so it draws them out of the home. She told me that her Madre was extremely strict about not sleeping at night. That’s believed to also bring bad luck into a home. I asked her if leaving our shoes on in the house had to do with superstition and she said that walking around barefoot will bring bad luck too. One other superstition in their culture is that it’s believed if you put a cup filled with water on top of your fridge, it will absorb “Energia negativa”. I created a taxonomy of these superstitions in Mexican culture, which is the last page of this paper.

After the house tour, Alonso brings me over to Mrs. Zurita to say hello. She was in her bedroom and come out to the kitchen which is right across from it. We make small talk and catch up since I haven’t seen her for a bit. She asks me how school is going and things like that. Shortly after, around 7:30 p.m. Mr. Zurita gets home from work. He works every day from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. as a construction worker. The whole family goes to greet him at the front door.

Mrs. Zurita and I go back to the kitchen and begin to prepare dinner. She decided to do enchiladas for dinner. We stuff the already cooked and shredded chicken into the tortillas and roll them. We place 4 onto a plate and pour the red sauce on top of them. We then pour the grated queso fresco onto the enchiladas. We put them into the microwave for about 30 seconds to melt the cheese and we take them out and put a squirt of sour cream next to them. We place all the plates around the table and call the family to dinner. Mr. Zurita sits at the head of the table and we all sit to the side. Mr. Zurita drank a beer along with his food while we drank some homemade agua de melon his mom made before I arrived. It was sweet and tasted good.

I noticed Mrs. Zurita didn’t sit down to eat with us. She stood standing and walking around, getting us more to drink, and offering more enchiladas. She didn’t sit to eat until Mr. Zurita asked her to. Alonso and I talked about this later, and he said that in their culture the wife and the mother of the family have to always attend to them and usually don’t eat or sit down until everyone else is finished. She serves everyone their food and their drinks. Alonso says that she also sometimes eats standing up by the counter. He said that his mother always says the role of the woman in a household is to attend to the family and clean, while the father shouldn’t have to work at home since he spends his day at the workplace. Eating at a Mexican household isn’t too different from what I’m used to, other than different flavors. Mrs. Zurita told me there’s no particular way to position yourself at a meal, you just enjoy the food and have a conversation. Dinners are considered a social event, where you can talk about anything, and just enjoy the food.

Throughout the meal, I was able to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Zurita about multiple topics. Mr. Zurita’s first question to me was, “Hablas Español?” which translates to, “Do you speak Spanish?” I reply with, “Un poquito,” which means, “a little.” They found this hilarious, and for the rest of the night, it became a lighthearted joke. During dinner, Alonso playfully begins to poke me, and I respond with, “No me toques!” which translates to “don’t touch me!” The hardest part about that night was not knowing what they were saying when they spoke exclusively in Spanish to each other. Despite this, I tried my best to translate little phrases here and there, along with help from Alonso. At one point they pointed out that it was raining outside by saying “Wow, esta lloviendo bien duro.” Having taken Spanish in high school, I was able to translate this for myself, and figured they meant “Wow it’s raining hard.” At times, Mr. Zurita would say something in Spanish, not realize that I couldn’t understand, then laugh to himself and translate it to English.

After dinner, I help my friend’s mom clean up and my mother’s friend begins to play some music on a small speaker. They said it’s called “musica ranchera” which is translated to ranch music. I couldn’t understand any of the words but the instruments I could pick out were an accordion, piano, drums, and a guitar. The lead singer sang with passion, and a lot of the songs were very different, some being fast and others being somewhat of a ballad.

Alonso suggests we play a game they call Loteria which in English means Lottery. The best way I can describe it is like Bingo. Instead of numbers and letters, we use pictures with its name underneath. Alonso says there are about 50 or so pictures. The pictures are hard to describe but they included a bell, a heart, a barrel, a moon, a rooster, and a bunch of other stuff. Alonso hands out the tablas which are 6-inch-tall boards that have a 4×4 grid covered with these pictures. Every tabla is different, and the way you win is to get a straight 1×4 line across the board whether it be horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. We begin the game, and Alonso begins to pull a card from a deck. He yells out the picture’s name. I have the picture on my board, so I use these little brown wooden circles to mark it. We continue to the game and I actually begin to cover my board but still don’t have a straight line. Alondra wins and she yells the name of the game, “Loteria!” and we begin another game. We play a few more. It’s easy once you get the hang of it and was a good way to learn a few Spanish words. It’s a fun game, and despite it being as simple as Bingo, I was very confused half the time, mainly because I couldn’t read in Spanish.

After we clean up we all move to the living room. We sit down and begin to watch TV. Aracely plays on the floor. Alondra and I sit on the love seat while my Alonso, Mrs. Zurita, and Mr. Zurita sit on the long couch. Mrs. Zurita puts on a Mexican TV program on Telemundo. I can’t remember the name of the show, but it’s called a telenovela. It was a dramatic show and had a lot of crying. We watched it and talked, and Alonso said how silly he thinks the telenovelas are and how they’re all basically the same. We were all talking, and I asked Mr. and Mrs. Zurita about their cultural values. They talked to me about how important work is in their culture. Mr. Zurita said it’s the most important part of a family dynamic, the man must work hard to provide for his family. They also believe the woman’s role is to be the mother and take care of the home and family. They both fall into those norms of their culture.

After lots of talking, Mr. Zurita eventually fell asleep on the couch. This seemed like it was time for me to head out. I got up and kissed Mrs. Zurita on both cheeks, something I learned earlier is a custom of theirs. The whole family walked me to the door, except for Mr. Zurita of course. I thanked them for sharing their home and food with me and being so open to my questions about their culture, customs, and values. We said our goodbyes and I left. On the way home I felt enlightened. It was enjoyable to experience another culture. I was able to be a part of it and not just look and research. I learned a lot more this way. Ethnographic research is an extremely valuable exercise for people interested in Intercultural Communications. It’s a great way to broaden your understanding and get rid of stereotypes. I believe if we all accepted each other’s cultures, and maybe dabble in them too, we would have much less discrimination in our world.